Transmission of information during ad click-through

ABSTRACT

The transmission of information during ad click-through is disclosed. In one embodiment, a computer-implemented method selects an ad to be displayed on a web page, as one of a plurality of ads within a current cluster in which each of the ad has a probability to be selected. The method displays the ad on the web page, and then detects activation—for example, click-through—of the displayed ad. The method transmits information to an entity associated with the ad, such as an advertiser, upon detecting click-through or other activation of the ad. In one embodiment, the information transmitted includes information regarding the current cluster.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates generally to the activation of ads displayed onweb pages, such as the clicking-through of banner ads, and morespecifically to transmitting information during such banner adactivation.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The Internet has become increasingly popular with end users, to theextent that advertisers have become attracted to this new medium. Atypical type of Internet ad is known as the banner ad, which isgenerally displayed on the top of each web page. Operators for popularnews and other sites, for example, can increase revenue by sellingbanner ad space to advertisers.

Frequently, advertisers choose sites to pay for banner ad space based ontwo criteria. First, advertisers pay to have their ads shown to specifictypes of people. For example, a golf store might want to have its adsshown on a sports-related page, or to people who are likely to beinterested in golf based on their browsing history. Second, advertiserspay to have their ads served in such a way that they are likely to be“clicked on”, so that the user will be transported to the advertiser'sweb site. The click through rate of an ad is the percentage of times auser clicks on the ad to be transported to the advertiser's web site,against the number of times the ad is shown. Advertisers in need ofadvertising are thus attracted to sites that generate click through, andare usually willing to pay extra to those sites that can deliverincreased click through.

Thus, when a consumer clicks on an advertiser's banner ad, the consumeris transported to the advertiser's web site. Because of the nature ofthe transport protocol used for nearly all web browsing, a protocolknown as HyperText Transport Protocol (HTTP), the advertiser knows theidentification of the web page from which the user was transported tothe advertiser's site. However, the advertiser typically receives littleother information. Significantly, for example, the advertiser does notreceive information regarding the consumer that has just beentransported to the advertiser's site.

This is problematic in the context of web-based advertising, because,unlike other advertising mediums such as television, radio, and print,web-based advertising is supposed to be targeted advertising. Forexample, a television ad generally cannot be specifically tailored foreach individual viewer, because of the constraints of the technology:television is a broadcast medium. However, theoretically, a web ad canbe specifically tailored for each individual user, because the Internetis a technology that permits different information to be sent to eachindividual user.

This theoretical ability of the web for targeted advertising is,unfortunately, muted in the context of banner ad click-through, sincethe advertiser does not have any specific information regarding the userwho has just been transported to its web site. For this and otherreasons, therefore, there is a need for the present invention.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to the transmission of information during adclick-through. In one embodiment, a computer-implemented method selectsan ad to be displayed on a web page, as one of a plurality of ads withina current cluster in which each of the ads has a probability to beselected. The method displays the ad on the web page, and then detectsactivation—for example, click-through—of the displayed ad. The methodtransmits information to an entity associated with the ad, such as anadvertiser, etc., upon detecting click-through or other activation ofthe ad. In one embodiment, the information transmitted includesinformation regarding the current cluster.

A cluster of ads usually has information associated with it. Forexample, the ads may have been clustered because of common demographicfeatures regarding the users most likely to click on those ads when theyare displayed to those users. The ads may have also been clustered as aresult of the commonality of a group of web pages on which display ofthe ads yields optimal click-through—for example, sports-related webpages may be dominant for a given cluster of ads. Furthermore, the adsmay have been clustered as a result of information provided by the ads'advertisers themselves.

Embodiments of the invention thus provide advantages not found in theprior art. Transmitting information to the advertiser when its ad isclicked on, for example, may include information regarding the clusterin which the ad has been allocated. On click-through, then, theadvertiser may not learn specific personal information regarding theuser who clicked on the ad—an important privacy concern for manyusers—but the advertiser does learn some general information regardingthe group of users the user is in, or other information by which theclusters were defined. For example, the advertiser may learn that the adwas displayed primarily on sports and international news pages, suchthat the advertiser is able to tailor the web site displayed to the userbased on this information.

The invention includes computer-implemented methods, machine-readablemedia, computerized systems, and computers of varying scopes. Otheraspects, embodiments and advantages of the invention, beyond thosedescribed here, will become apparent by reading the detailed descriptionand with reference to the drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a diagram of an operating environment in conjunction withwhich embodiments of the invention can be practiced;

FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a banner ad on a web page, and howclicking on the ad transports the user to another web page;

FIGS. 3 and 4 are diagrams of clusters and ads, in conjunction withwhich embodiments of the invention can be practiced; and,

FIG. 5 is a flowchart of a method according to an embodiment of theinvention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

In the following detailed description of exemplary embodiments of theinvention, reference is made to the accompanying drawings which form apart hereof, and in which is shown by way of illustration specificexemplary embodiments in which the invention may be practiced. Theseembodiments are described in sufficient detail to enable those skilledin the art to practice the invention, and it is to be understood thatother embodiments may be utilized and that logical, mechanical,electrical and other changes may be made without departing from thespirit or scope of the present invention. The following detaileddescription is, therefore, not to be taken in a limiting sense, and thescope of the present invention is defined only by the appended claims.

Some portions of the detailed descriptions which follow are presented interms of algorithms and symbolic representations of operations on databits within a computer memory. These algorithmic descriptions andrepresentations are the means used by those skilled in the dataprocessing arts to most effectively convey the substance of their workto others skilled in the art. An algorithm is here, and generally,conceived to be a self-consistent sequence of steps leading to a desiredresult. The steps are those requiring physical manipulations of physicalquantities. Usually, though not necessarily, these quantities take theform of electrical or magnetic signals capable of being stored,transferred, combined, compared, and otherwise manipulated.

It has proven convenient at times, principally for reasons of commonusage, to refer to these signals as bits, values, elements, symbols,characters, terms, numbers, or the like. It should be borne in mind,however, that all of these and similar terms are to be associated withthe appropriate physical quantities and are merely convenient labelsapplied to these quantities. Unless specifically stated otherwise asapparent from the following discussions, it is appreciated thatthroughout the present invention, discussions utilizing terms such asprocessing or computing or calculating or determining or displaying orthe like, refer to the action and processes of a computer system, orsimilar electronic computing device, that manipulates and transformsdata represented as physical (electronic) quantities within the computersystem's registers and memories into other data similarly represented asphysical quantities within the computer system memories or registers orother such information storage, transmission or display devices.

Operating Environment

Referring to FIG. 1, a diagram of the hardware and operating environmentin conjunction with which embodiments of the invention may be practicedis shown. The description of FIG. 1 is intended to provide a brief,general description of suitable computer hardware and a suitablecomputing environment in conjunction with which the invention may beimplemented. Although not required, the invention is described in thegeneral context of computer-executable instructions, such as programmodules, being executed by a computer, such as a personal computer.Generally, program modules include routines, programs, objects,components, data structures, etc., that perform particular tasks orimplement particular abstract data types.

Moreover, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the inventionmay be practiced with other computer system configurations, includinghand-held devices, multiprocessor systems, microprocessor-based orprogrammable consumer electronics, network PC's, minicomputers,mainframe computers, and the like. The invention may also be practicedin distributed computing environments where tasks are performed byremote processing devices that are linked through a communicationsnetwork. In a distributed computing environment, program modules may belocated in both local and remote memory storage devices.

The exemplary hardware and operating environment of FIG. 1 forimplementing the invention includes a general purpose computing devicein the form of a computer 20, including a processing unit 21, a systemmemory 22, and a system bus 23 that operatively couples various systemcomponents include the system memory to the processing unit 21. Theremay be only one or there may be more than one processing unit 21, suchthat the processor of computer 20 comprises a single central-processingunit (CPU), or a plurality of processing units, commonly referred to asa parallel processing environment. The computer 20 may be a conventionalcomputer, a distributed computer, or any other type of computer; theinvention is not so limited.

The system bus 23 may be any of several types of bus structuresincluding a memory bus or memory controller, a peripheral bus, and alocal bus using any of a variety of bus architectures. The system memorymay also be referred to as simply the memory, and includes read onlymemory (ROM) 24 and random access memory (RAM) 25. A basic input/outputsystem (BIOS) 26, containing the basic routines that help to transferinformation between elements within the computer 20, such as duringstart-up, is stored in ROM 24. The computer 20 further includes a harddisk drive 27 for reading from and writing to a hard disk, not shown, amagnetic disk drive 28 for reading from or writing to a removablemagnetic disk 29, and an optical disk drive 30 for reading from orwriting to a removable optical disk 31 such as a CD ROM or other opticalmedia.

The hard disk drive 27, magnetic disk drive 28, and optical disk drive30 are connected to the system bus 23 by a hard disk drive interface 32,a magnetic disk drive interface 33, and an optical disk drive interface34, respectively. The drives and their associated computer-readablemedia provide nonvolatile storage of computer-readable instructions,data structures, program modules and other data for the computer 20. Itshould be appreciated by those skilled in the art that any type ofcomputer-readable media which can store data that is accessible by acomputer, such as magnetic cassettes, flash memory cards, digital videodisks, Bernoulli cartridges, random access memories (RAMs), read onlymemories (ROMs), and the like, may be used in the exemplary operatingenvironment.

A number of program modules may be stored on the hard disk, magneticdisk 29, optical disk 31, ROM 24, or RAM 25, including an operatingsystem 35, one or more application programs 36, other program modules37, and program data 38. A user may enter commands and information intothe personal computer 20 through input devices such as a keyboard 40 andpointing device 42. Other input devices (not shown) may include amicrophone, joystick, game pad, satellite dish, scanner, or the like.These and other input devices are often connected to the processing unit21 through a serial port interface 46 that is coupled to the system bus,but may be connected by other interfaces, such as a parallel port, gameport, or a universal serial bus (USB). A monitor 47 or other type ofdisplay device is also connected to the system bus 23 via an interface,such as a video adapter 48. In addition to the monitor, computerstypically include other peripheral output devices (not shown), such asspeakers and printers.

The computer 20 may operate in a networked environment using logicalconnections to one or more remote computers, such as remote computer 49.These logical connections are achieved by a communication device coupledto or a part of the computer 20; the invention is not limited to aparticular type of communications device. The remote computer 49 may beanother computer, a server, a router, a network PC, a client, a peerdevice or other common network node, and typically includes many or allof the elements described above relative to the computer 20, althoughonly a memory storage device 50 has been illustrated in FIG. 1. Thelogical connections depicted in FIG. 1 include a local-area network(LAN) 51 and a wide-area network (WAN) 52. Such networking environmentsare commonplace in office networks, enterprise-wide computer networks,intranets and the Internal, which are all types of networks.

When used in a LAN-networking environment, the computer 20 is connectedto the local network 51 through a network interface or adapter 53, whichis one type of communications device. When used in a WAN-networkingenvironment, the computer 20 typically includes a modem 54, a type ofcommunications device, or any other type of communications device forestablishing communications over the wide area network 52, such as theInternal. The modem 54, which may be internal or external, is connectedto the system bus 23 via the serial port interface 46. In a networkedenvironment, program modules depicted relative to the personal computer20, or portions thereof, may be stored in the remote memory storagedevice. It is appreciated that the network connections shown areexemplary and other means of and communications devices for establishinga communications link between the computers may be used.

Banner Ads

In this section of the detailed description, an overview of banner adson web pages is provided. Embodiments of the invention are amenable toapplication with such banner ads; however, the invention itself is notso limited. Referring to FIG. 2, a diagram is shown in which the webpage 200 includes a banner ad 202. The web page 200 is typicallydisplayed on a user's computer, within a web browser computer program asknown within the art. The banner ad 202 is a specific example of what isreferred to generally herein as an item, or as a display message. Thatis, an item or a display message as described herein is inclusive of abanner ad, but the invention itself is not so limited.

The user is able to navigate within the web page 200 by causing movementof an arrow pointer (not shown in FIG. 2) with a pointing device, suchas a mouse, trackball, etc. The user is thus able to position the arrowpointer over the ad 202, and activate the ad 202, by clicking a pointingdevice button while the arrow pointer is positioned over the ad 202.Activation as the term is used herein is a general term meant toencompass clicking on the ad to accomplish click-through, as known inthe art. Thus, activating the ad 202 results in a new web page 204 beingdisplayed within the user's browser program. The term activation is usedinstead of the more specific clicking, or clicking on, because the admay be able to be activated by manners other than pointing device buttonactuation. For example, corresponding key strokes on the keyboard mayalso accomplish activation, while other manners may also be possible.Thus, the invention is not limited to activation via clicking.

The resulting display of the web page 204 as a result of clicking on thead 202 is also referred to herein as transporting the user to the webpage 204. Usually, the web page 204 will be a part of the web site ofthe advertiser sponsoring the ad 202 on the web page 200. Usually aswell, the original web page 200 is not part of the advertiser's website, but rather is part of a web site on which the advertiser haspurchased advertising, that is, purchased space on the web site fordisplaying ads such as the ad 202. Embodiments of the invention providefor transmission of information to the advertiser coincident with theactivation of the ad 202 and the transportation of the user to the webpage 204, such that, for example, the web page 204 displayed to the usercan be tailored specifically for the user engaging in the specificweb-browsing session. This is described later in the detaileddescription.

Ads and Clusters

In this section of the detailed description, ads and clusters arespecifically described. As mentioned in the previous section of thedetailed description, ads are a specific type of item or displaymessage. Thus, while the description in this section focuses on ads,this is for illustrative purposes only, and is not meant to convey alimitation on the invention itself.

Referring first to FIG. 3, a diagram is shown in which each of aplurality of ads 300 is allocated to one or more of the clusters 302 a,302 b, . . . , 302 n. The clusters are used to determine which ads areto be displayed for a given set of web pages linked to a given cluster.The clusters are defined in one embodiment of the invention to maximizeclick-through, or activation, of the ads within the clusters. Forexample, the clusters may be defined using user demographic informationand user web-page browsing history and habit information, and it may beknown that users of particular demographics when browsing particulartypes of web pages are more likely to click on certain types of ads. Acluster could then be defined for users of such demographics whenbrowsing such web pages, such that ads of those type are allocated tothat cluster. In another embodiment of the invention, the clusters aredefined also utilizing information from advertisers themselves, such asinformation regarding the purchasing decisions of users.

The invention is not limited to a manner by which ads are allocated toclusters, nor to a particular definition of clusters. In one embodimentof the invention, the clusters are defined and the ads are allocated asdescribed in the copending and coassigned provisional applicationentitled “A Cluster-Based Approach for Targeted Item Delivery withInventor Management,” filed on Jul. 3, 1999, and assigned Ser. No.60/142,330. This application specifically describes definition ofclusters and allocation of ads thereinto such that quotas for ads areaccounted for, where a quota for an ad is the minimum number of times anad must be displayed on a given web site or group of web pages over apredetermined amount of time.

As has been mentioned, when a user is browsing a particular web page,the cluster in which the user is currently, based on information such asbut not limited to information regarding the user itself as well as theidentification and/or type of the particular web page, determines theads the user will see on that web page. More specifically, this processis described in conjunction with FIG. 4. In FIG. 4, a cluster 400 has anumber of ads 400 a, 400 b, 400 c, 400 d and 400 e allocated thereto.The diagram of FIG. 4 is depicted as a pie chart, where each of the adsallocated to the cluster has a different slice of the pie. The slice fora given ad corresponds to the ad's probability of being displayed whenit is determined that an ad within the cluster 400 must be shown. Forexample, if the cluster in which the user is currently assigned is thecluster 400, then the ad specifically displayed to the user will be oneof the ads 400 a, 400 b, 400 c, 400 d and 400 e. The specific one of theads is based on the probability that each of the ads has of beingdisplayed. For example, a random number between zero and one can bedetermined, and based on that random number, a corresponding one of theads is selected for display.

Methods

In this section of the detailed description, description of methodsaccording to varying embodiments of the invention is presented. Themethods are particularly described in conjunction with FIG. 5, which isa flowchart of a method according to differing embodiments. Thecomputer-implemented methods are desirably realized at least in part asone or more programs running on a computer—that is, as a programexecuted from a computer-readable medium such as a memory by a processorof a computer. The programs are desirably storable on a machine-readablemedium such as a floppy disk or a CD-ROM, for distribution andinstallation and execution on another computer.

In 500, an ad is selected to be displayed on a web page. The ad is oneof a number of ads within a current cluster, where each of the ads has aprobability that it is to be selected as the ad to be displayed, aprobability referred to as the selection probability. The ad is aspecific type of item or display message, such that the invention is notlimited to only an ad being selected. In 502, the selected ad isdisplayed, for example, on a web page of a web site.

In 504, activation of the displayed ad is detected. For example, thedisplayed ad may be clicked on, or otherwise activated. Then, in 506,information is transmitted to an entity associated with the ad, upondetecting of ad activation. The information transmitted can includeinformation regarding the current cluster. For example, demographic andother information by which the current cluster is defined can betransmitted. The entity associated with the ad can be an advertisersponsoring the ad, or another organization or business, for example.

The current cluster may be part of one of a number of clusters, suchthat the clusters may be defined based on information provided by theentity, such as purchase information regarding the products beingadvertised on the web site of which the web page is a part, so that, forexample, the clusters are defined so as to maximize the purchase of theadvertiser's products. The ads may conversely not advertise any specificproducts, but rather be related to the entity so as to promote theentity's brand image. Finally, in 508, a web page associated with the adis displayed to the user, such that the user is referred to as beingtransported to the advertiser's web site.

The information transmitted in 506 thus provides for advantages notfound in the prior art. For example, the web page associated with the adthat is displayed in 508 can be customized based on this information.This allows for a more targeted type of advertising than is currentlypossible in the prior art. In addition, the information transmitted in506 can be tallied by the entity, so that the entity has a record of thetypes of users who are clicking on its ads, which can be used for otherpromotional purposes, for verification purposes against the informationprovided by the operator on the site on which the advertiser isadvertising, etc.

CONCLUSION

Although specific embodiments have been illustrated and describedherein, it will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the artthat any arrangement which is calculated to achieve the same purpose maybe substituted for the specific embodiments shown. This application isintended to cover any adaptations or variations of the presentinvention. Therefore, it is manifestly intended that this invention belimited only by the following claims and equivalents thereof.

1-20. (canceled)
 21. A machine-readable medium comprising machineexecutable instructions for transmitting data during banner adactivation, including: allocating a plurality of banner ads to acluster, based at least in part on the plurality of banner ads,determining an ad to display for a set of web pages linked to thecluster, employing a pointing device to position a generated indicatorover the determined ad; activating the determined ad to transport a userto one of the set of web pages; and transmitting data to an advertiserassociated with the determined ad.
 22. The machine-readable medium ofclaim 21, the cluster defined in order to maximize click through of thebanner ads within the cluster.
 23. The machine-readable medium of claim21, the cluster defined in order to maximize activation of banner adswithin the cluster.
 24. The machine-readable medium of claim 21, thecluster defined using one of demographic information, web page browsinghistory, and user habit information.
 25. The machine-readable medium ofclaim 21, the cluster defined using data supplied by advertisers, thedata supplied includes a user purchasing decision.
 26. Themachine-readable medium of claim 21, the determining includes selectingthe ad based at least in part on a selection probability.
 27. Themachine-readable medium of claim 21, the activating includes detectingclicking on the determined ad.
 28. A machine implemented method foreffectuating communication of data during ad activation, comprising:associating a display message that has a distinct selection probabilitywith a current cluster; detecting activation of the display message; andbased at least on the detecting, communicating data associated with thedisplay message to an entity.
 29. The method of claim 28, the currentcluster is one of a plurality of clusters.
 30. The method of claim 29,the plurality of clusters defined in order to maximize click through ofthe display message.
 31. The method of claim 29, the plurality ofclusters defined in order to maximize activation of the display message.32. The method of claim 29, each cluster in the plurality of clustersbased on information supplied by the entity.
 33. The method of claim 32,the information includes at least demographic information and user habitinformation.
 34. The method of claim 28, the entity comprises one of avendor, an organization, and a business.
 35. A method for transmittinginformation during ad activation, comprising: identifying and displayingan ad from a cluster of ads each ad associated with an ascertainableselection probability; and detecting activation of the identified anddisplayed ad and transmitting information to an associated entity. 36.The method of claim 35, the detecting activation includes transporting auser to a web page associated with the ad.
 37. The method of claim 35,the entity includes at least one of a vendor, an organization, anadvertiser, and a business.
 38. The method of claim 35, the cluster ofads grouped to maximize click through of the identified and displayedad.
 39. The method of claim 35, the cluster of ads grouped to maximizeactivation of the identified and displayed ad.
 40. The method of claim35, the cluster of ads grouped according to information supplied by theentity that includes web page browsing history and user habitinformation.